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126
after Captain James had “ marched them
around the yard [ of the armory] about eight
times” after his request to leave the armory
and participate had been denied by Captain
James. 18
Waddell’s column of men marched
east on Market and turned onto Seventh
Street, white residents in homes they passed
viewed the crowd with mixed emotions even
as husbands and sons joined the march from
their porches. William Parsley wrote to his
sister- in- law in New York that her mother
broke into a “ fit of hysterics sufficiently
violent to alarm me” when the armed group
of men led by Waddell marched by their
house but that she soon was calmed enough
for him to join the procession. Furthermore,
his young daughter, Mannie, “ distinguished
herself” as she joined the procession from
the sidewalk for a short distance while
walking towards her grandparent’s home at
619 Orange Street. Parsley recalled that she
enjoyed the walk but that his wife and
mother were not so charmed by the girl’s
activities. 19
Although Waddell’s march took the
men en route to the press through affluent
neighborhoods on Market Street, once they
turned onto Seventh and passed Orange
Street, the neighborhood became distinctly
different, occupied almost entirely by blacks
who watched the procession from within
their homes and other concealed locations. 20
Chief of Police John R. Melton observed the
procession and recalled that it took about an
hour for the 1,000 to 1,500 men to pass. 21
The press occupied a building called Love
and Charity Hall and was in the heart of a
18 “ Minutes of the Association of the WLI,” North
Carolina Collection.
19 William Parsley to Sal [ McLaurin], nd, Eccles
Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill.
20 1897 Wilmington Map, Hayumi Higuchi. A digital
version of Higuchi’s map can be found in Chapter 8.
21 Contested Election Case, 364.
black neighborhood near the corner of
Seventh and Nun Streets. 22
Since they were in what could be
assumed to be hostile territory, and given the
fact that armed groups of black men had
clustered around the press in August as a
defensive measure after threats were first
made against Manly and the paper, the white
paramilitary organization sent out pickets, or
guards, along the streets in the southern
section of town. One participant later
recalled that he was instructed by his ward
captain to run a patrol on Church Street and
later extended his patrols along Castle to
Seventh in the early stages of the riot. 23
With his perimeter secured by the
pickets and guard patrols, Waddell knocked
on the door of the building wielding a
Winchester rifle. The knock yielded no
answer since Manly had been warned of the
dangers to his life and property in advance
by white reporter Thomas Clawson. 24 The
men then forced the door open and poured
22 The hall, also called Free Love Lodge by Hayden,
was operated by the Grand United Order of Love and
Charity, first organized in 1878, and provided help
for the poor, sick, and indigent through its association
with St. Luke’s A. M. E. Zion Church. The building at
Seventh and Nun Streets was newly constructed in
1897, and after its destruction in 1898, contributions
from the white community reimbursed the
organization for its losses. Construction commenced
on a new hall in April 1899. Manly moved the
printing press and Record offices to the building after
he was evicted from his rented office space
downtown in August. The property owner of the
business office in downtown did not want Manly’s
controversial business on his property. Reaves,
Strength Through Struggle, 17- 18.
23 Evening Dispatch ( Wilmington), August 25, 1898;
F. A. Lord to Louis T. Moore, August 8, 1936, Louis
T. Moore Collection, New Hanover Count Public
Library.
24 Clawson, “ Recollections and Memories” Louis T.
Moore Collection, State Archives, North Carolina
Office of Archives and History, Raleigh; McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 695, reports that a black
man near the door failed to move out of the way fast
enough and was shot in the neck. This is the only
recorded instance of this man being shot.

126
after Captain James had “ marched them
around the yard [ of the armory] about eight
times” after his request to leave the armory
and participate had been denied by Captain
James. 18
Waddell’s column of men marched
east on Market and turned onto Seventh
Street, white residents in homes they passed
viewed the crowd with mixed emotions even
as husbands and sons joined the march from
their porches. William Parsley wrote to his
sister- in- law in New York that her mother
broke into a “ fit of hysterics sufficiently
violent to alarm me” when the armed group
of men led by Waddell marched by their
house but that she soon was calmed enough
for him to join the procession. Furthermore,
his young daughter, Mannie, “ distinguished
herself” as she joined the procession from
the sidewalk for a short distance while
walking towards her grandparent’s home at
619 Orange Street. Parsley recalled that she
enjoyed the walk but that his wife and
mother were not so charmed by the girl’s
activities. 19
Although Waddell’s march took the
men en route to the press through affluent
neighborhoods on Market Street, once they
turned onto Seventh and passed Orange
Street, the neighborhood became distinctly
different, occupied almost entirely by blacks
who watched the procession from within
their homes and other concealed locations. 20
Chief of Police John R. Melton observed the
procession and recalled that it took about an
hour for the 1,000 to 1,500 men to pass. 21
The press occupied a building called Love
and Charity Hall and was in the heart of a
18 “ Minutes of the Association of the WLI,” North
Carolina Collection.
19 William Parsley to Sal [ McLaurin], nd, Eccles
Family Papers, Southern Historical Collection,
University of North Carolina Library, Chapel Hill.
20 1897 Wilmington Map, Hayumi Higuchi. A digital
version of Higuchi’s map can be found in Chapter 8.
21 Contested Election Case, 364.
black neighborhood near the corner of
Seventh and Nun Streets. 22
Since they were in what could be
assumed to be hostile territory, and given the
fact that armed groups of black men had
clustered around the press in August as a
defensive measure after threats were first
made against Manly and the paper, the white
paramilitary organization sent out pickets, or
guards, along the streets in the southern
section of town. One participant later
recalled that he was instructed by his ward
captain to run a patrol on Church Street and
later extended his patrols along Castle to
Seventh in the early stages of the riot. 23
With his perimeter secured by the
pickets and guard patrols, Waddell knocked
on the door of the building wielding a
Winchester rifle. The knock yielded no
answer since Manly had been warned of the
dangers to his life and property in advance
by white reporter Thomas Clawson. 24 The
men then forced the door open and poured
22 The hall, also called Free Love Lodge by Hayden,
was operated by the Grand United Order of Love and
Charity, first organized in 1878, and provided help
for the poor, sick, and indigent through its association
with St. Luke’s A. M. E. Zion Church. The building at
Seventh and Nun Streets was newly constructed in
1897, and after its destruction in 1898, contributions
from the white community reimbursed the
organization for its losses. Construction commenced
on a new hall in April 1899. Manly moved the
printing press and Record offices to the building after
he was evicted from his rented office space
downtown in August. The property owner of the
business office in downtown did not want Manly’s
controversial business on his property. Reaves,
Strength Through Struggle, 17- 18.
23 Evening Dispatch ( Wilmington), August 25, 1898;
F. A. Lord to Louis T. Moore, August 8, 1936, Louis
T. Moore Collection, New Hanover Count Public
Library.
24 Clawson, “ Recollections and Memories” Louis T.
Moore Collection, State Archives, North Carolina
Office of Archives and History, Raleigh; McDuffie,
“ Politics in Wilmington,” 695, reports that a black
man near the door failed to move out of the way fast
enough and was shot in the neck. This is the only
recorded instance of this man being shot.